The Dorklyst: The 10 Greatest Hero & Villain Team-Ups In Videogame History

Alexander Z. Rogers

July 9, 2013

Many classic videogames still boil down to a very basic formula: Good Guys + Bad Guys +/- a few princess = Conflict. In some games the actual reasons for the conflict (princess-related or otherwise) don't actually matter much - the most important relationship and interactions in the game are between our player and his or her antithesis. That's probably why, no matter how long the feud seems to drag on or how implausible it is that the villain survived his last defeat, game designers keep bringing back the devils we know - it just wouldn't feel like the same series without them. Now what happens when these naturally opposing forces find themselves on the same side in a fight against an even greater foe? Here are the 10 greatest hero and villain team-ups in videogame history...

(WARNING: Some spoilers about villains and heroes teaming up to follow)

10. Master Chief & The Arbiter (Halo 2 & 3)

Unlike many of the foes on this list, Master Chief never actually entered into combat directly with the Elite (or Sangheili, as they like to be called these days) that would become known as "The Arbiter". That's probably a good thing, as otherwise the prophets would have had to find another Arbiter. Other than a different pair of hands and the ability to cloak without a power-up, the Arbiter didn't play much differently from his former nemesis (both were also very good at killing Covenant and at getting human marines slaughtered just by their presence in combat). However, in the storyline, it would be the Elite Fleet (sounds way better than Sangheili fleet to me) that would prove the decisive factor in ending the war with a human victory. Just think how different it could have gone had the Prophet of Truth just decided to put off the Civil War until after humanity had been wiped out. Actually, Master Chief probably would still have just killed everybody, but he would have been able to kill a lot of Elites too, and they're a lot more fun to fight than Brutes. That's probably why he started doing that again in Halo 4.

9. Kirby & King Dedede (Kirby's Adventure & Nightmare in Dreamland)

The lovably cute puffball Kirby and the nefarious but also pretty gosh darn adorable King Dedede have been going at it since the game boy was relatively new. Dedede is more bully than diabolical tyrant and most of his plots would best be described as mean-spirited shenanigans. That fact doesn't stop Kirby from ingesting most of Dedede's loyal henchmen. In hindsight Kirby is a kind of a dick. When Dedede steals the Star Rod, Kirby stays true to form, killing most of Dedede's men and kicking the crap out of the giant penguin monarch before discovering that K.D.'s ostensibly bad act was just his misguided attempt to foil the plot of the truly evil Nightmare. So it turns out Dedede was good all along, and by game's end the duo part on friendly terms. Which is awfully forgiving of Dedede considering most of his friends were eaten alive by the titular hero. Basically, Kirby is a huge dick.

8. Price & Makarov (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2)

Captain Price and Vladimir Makarov don't like each other (for good reason, a few acts of nuclear terrorism will sour any relationship). Still, they decide to put all that geo-political vengeance stuff aside in order to kill a guy that's somehow worse than an ultranationalist terror-lovin' madman: US General Shepherd, who tricked the world into a devastating war so that more people would sign up for the armed forces. While their group effort amounts to little more than a cut-scene in which a bit of information is shared, it's nevertheless a moment of triumph in Anglo-Russian relations. Anyway, in the next game Price strangles Makarov to death with a cable. Some friendships just weren't meant to last.